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Overview"Kermit the Frog famously said that it isn't easy being green, and in ""Living at Micro Scale"", David Dusenbery shows that it isn't easy being small - existing at the size of, say, a rotifer, a tiny multicellular animal just at the boundary between the visible and the microscopic. ""Imagine,"" he writes, ""stepping off a curb and waiting a week for your foot to hit the ground."" At that scale, we would be small enough to swim inside the letter O in the word ""rotifer."" What are the physical consequences of life at this scale? How do such organisms move, identify prey and predators and (if they're so inclined) mates, signal to one another, and orient themselves?In clear and engaging prose, Dusenbery uses straightforward physics to demonstrate the constraints on the size, shape, and behavior of tiny organisms. While recounting the historical development of the basic concepts, he unearths a corner of microbiology rich in history, and full of lessons about how science does or does not progress. Marshalling findings from different fields to show why tiny organisms have some of the properties they are found to have, Dusenbery shows a science that doesn't always move triumphantly forward, and is dependent to a great extent on accident and contingency." Full Product DetailsAuthor: David B. DusenberyPublisher: Harvard University Press Imprint: Harvard University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.60cm , Length: 23.50cm Weight: 0.816kg ISBN: 9780674031166ISBN 10: 0674031164 Pages: 448 Publication Date: 01 February 2009 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Out of Print Availability: In Print  Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock. Table of ContentsReviewsThe book draws on 20 years of Dusenbery's own research, and he doesn't compromise on the science; informed readers will find all the equations they could need. But it is rarely dry or uninteresting, and benefits from a liberal scattering of anecdotes going back 2500 years. My favorite is the idea that Galileo fell foul of the church because of his atomist view of matter. -- Colin Barras New Scientist (03/14/2009) Author InformationDavid B. Dusenbery is Professor of Biology, Emeritus, Georgia Tech. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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